oui oui!


Just got into Paris... sauntered off the train in a manner similar to this:


[sartorialist]


Or, well, i like to think i did.

Here's hoping!
X



Today: le Marais
Tomorrow: Versailles
Later: Pareeeeeeeee
You have read this article me / travel with the title January 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2009/01/oui-oui.html. Thanks!

flower power

Call it misguided patriotism, or just plain bias, but i have a lot of time for australian models. Catherine McNeil, Abbey Lee Kershaw, Alice Burdeu, even the eternally smiley Miranda Kerr, and of course the one and only Gemma Ward. The latest in the crop of Australian models hitting the fashion scene is youngster (she's a year younger than me!) Myf Shepherd from Brisvegas, Queensland. Her doll-like face with slightly odd eyes and an interesting jaw line, means that she stands out from the usual cast of leggy scandinavians.











[tfs]

The thing i love about this editorial is how natural all the headpieces and the styling feels. I mean, there are some crazy things going on with the hair in these shots. Wild colours, frizzed up like marie antoinette and filled with flowers and various plant-like accoutrements. The clothes are similar, fitting in with the real-floral and doll like characteristics of the shoot.

Myf is the next big thing, believe it or not, after having stormed up the catwalks in new york, london, milan and paris, closing 3 shows and captivating the imagination and sketches of lagerfeld, prada, theyskens and elbaz. Look out for her porcelain features and piercing, no no really they cut like diamonds, eyes, on the couture runways and the ready to wear shows this coming february. what a striking show, no?

X

[currently in london, probably cold, and broke, but insanely happy]
EDIT: am i, or am i not, a fortune teller! picked this date for scheduled post randomly mostly because i would be in london when it would be posted, and logged onto tfs today to find myf had rocked in 2 couture shows, and only DIOR and CHANEL... and that in both of these she had been wearing finer than fine headgear, one terrific hat at \dior that curved right around her face and paper and organza headwear confections at Chanel!!!!
amd, speaking of which, how beautiful was the chanel haute couture show? i swear to god, if i had the money, and body, to wear couture, that entire collection would be in my wardrobe posthaste. I like Dior and Givenchy too, but chanel was ... wow... blew me away.
You have read this article editorial / fashion / inspiration / style with the title January 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2009/01/flower-power.html. Thanks!

come fly with me, come fly, come fly away.





wish me luck! i hope you all have the best januaries, februaries, valentine's days, couture fashion week, and the ready to wear autumn/winter season, can't believe i'm going to be there, hopefully i might be able to wrangle my way in haha.
much love
X
You have read this article me / travel with the title January 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2009/01/come-fly-with-me-come-fly-come-fly-away.html. Thanks!

my heart is yearning, but paris is burning, paris is burning all night long.

so i'm off tomorrow on this grand 5 week trip that will take me, sadly away from blogging. I haven't really had a chance to do many scheduled posts, although there are a few editorial and poetry posts to carry you over into february. Perhaps, if i get close to internet or get the chance i will be able to do some quick picture posts, comment back on blogs and generally keep up with the blogsphere. although it means taking me away from my beloved blog, whom i love dearly, i am so incredibly excited for this trip! mostly because i get to have a break from my family (and them me) but also because it will be the first time i've been to some of these places on my very lonesome, which marks a big step for me. :)

So, first of all, because we all love snooping in each others cases: 

- vintage checked skirt
- marni knitted burgundy skirt
- stella mccartney pencil skirt
- josh goot tie dye skirt. 
- floor length skirt in emerald green silk chiffon

- loose white tee shirts
- oversized charcoal grey striped tee-shirt
- APC long sleeve stripey top
- vintage flower shirt
- vintage beaded cardigan (thin)

- military style double breasted coat in black
- black cacharel blazer
- thick burgundy cardigan from topshop

- doc martens (wooo! finally bought them)
- ballet flats 
- strappy dries van noten -esque heels from sportsgirl haha

along with various tights, scarves, beanies, gloves and other winter accoutrements. 


And here, painstakingly created and with various tips from Brigadeiro, my sister and many different guide books, is my checklist of things to do/see/eat and buy when overseas.

HONG KONG
because one half of my extended family all reside here, hong kong is generally taken charge of by my imposing but so lovely 'first aunt' who tells me where to eat, shop, look at art and other sight-seeing activities. Having been there so many times now there is not so much hundreds of monuments that need revisiting, but there are hundreds of shops. Whenever i am in hong kong i go to lane crawford, any of them will do, the harvey nichols store, times square and kowloon side for afternoon tea and the peninsula. People always ask me where to eat in hong kong, but i never know what the places are called, i just follow my aunt there and i eat when i'm told haha. it is lovely food though. i have heard it is very hard to get a good meal in hong kong, and i shall take their word for it. 

LONDON/ENGLAND
1. Topshop.
2. Topshop.
3. Topshop.
4. Dover Street Market
5. Topshop. 

because of the monstrous exchange rate between pounds and AU dollars it is murder to buy anything online from topshop. absolute murder. so whenever i am in england i stock up madly on topshop, h&m, zara and miss selfridge high street cheap and cheerful fare, mostly because the same kind of quality at similar prices is impossible in sydney, and also because the high street fashion is so abysmal in australia. the choices are supre (cheap and not cheerful, believe me) and sportsgirl/witchery (topshop/zara-esque and expensive), there really is no middle ground in terms of quality, style and pricing. 

In London i am also excited to do/see/eat/shop
- Harvey Nichols
- the rose bakery in DSM, i've always wanted to go but never gotten the chance, apparently the food is divine
- Notting Hill and the Spitalfields markets, as suggested by Brigadeiro
- eating at Scotts, which is my godmother's birthday present to me, and is apparently the best in town for seafood (my favourite) 
- Cambridge, which is where my godmother lives, and a town that i love with all my heart! beautiful architecture, friendly atmosphere, academia just spilling out onto the street... my type of place!
- seeing a musical in the west end, i'm not sure which one yet, as i've seen wicked, but i wouldn't mind seeing it again!
- walking through hyde park
- THE BRITISH MUSEUM! i want to live there! i could spend days and days and days there, just looking at everything. i love the section on assyria, mostly because my year 12 ancient history class are some of the only people in the world who are even remotely interested in assyria, so the section is never that crowded. i also love the room that houses all the jewels. they belong on people, my friend told me when we were there, not in cases. they are pretty though! 
- the national gallery, the portrait gallery and the serpentine
- i also really want to go to the war cabinet rooms, which are apparently a must if you're interested in WWII... has anyone gone that can recommend them?

PARIS
- ambling mindlessly through the ile de la cite
- saint-schapelle, my favourite, the stained glass is incredible.
- colette, which i am so excited to see
- VERSAILLES! *sigh*
- the louvre, another place i could spend days in. winged victory, cliche i know, is my favourite statue, and i love just staring at it for a long time, and your eyes play tricks on you and it seems like her wings are moving.
- Laduree in the champs elysees
- and while i'm there: avenue montaigne, rue faubourg st-honore for all the lovely window shopping
- the flea markets at clignancourt
- Sacre Coeur (And thus, montmartre) because i went to a sacred heart school and i suppose ought to visit the old pile of bricks
- Bound Bar and the Dries Van Noten store in the Marais, on Brigadeiro's recommendation. 

(does anyone know if nina ricci have a store in paris? i must go there if they do.)

hmmmm have i left anything out? ahahaa apparently where we are staying in the 7th arondissement there are loads and loads of incredible restaurants, says my mother. she stayed a street away from where we are last year and she said they had some of the best meals of their lives there, which is saying something.

NEW YORK
- mostly excited to see dear tess, my exchange student, who i've missed so much.
- also excited because she has promise me snow, some how or other, and i will be very annoyed if i don't get it. :)
- Barneys
- the Met (mmmmm), and barely 6 blocks from her school, how convenient!
- Madison Ave and 5th Ave for the department stores
- Brooklyn op-shopping, which i suppose they call thrifting!
- long subway rides
- sitting with tea and brownies in central park for hours on end just talking
- the frick.



Any other suggestions? What i would really like to know is the bars/clubs to go to in London and Paris. In New York i am still a minor i fear, and the girl i'm staying with is even younger than me. But in London and Paris i can't wait to see what's on offer. Anyone hip and fabulous and residing in either of those places, or in the know, care to help out? 

much love. 
will miss you all incredibly much! i will bring back virtual presents in the form of lots and lots and lots of pictures.
X
You have read this article dreams / future / london / me / New York / paris / travel with the title January 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-heart-is-yearning-but-paris-is.html. Thanks!

the doctor came with his bag and his hat...

I bought my Doc Martens, finally, as my travel boots, and have realised that i am slowly, but steadily, ticking of my 'french wardrobe list'. Who knows whether i will pick up some of the slouchy tee shirts, linen blazer, flirty skirts, that also adorn my list when i am overseas? I have tried to save up as much as i can for the trip, and i'm fairly confident that i will be returning with goodies galore. at least, that is my hope and dream. :)


Monday


[rag and bone blazer, chanel 2.55, la garconne top, doc martens, maje engergie harem pants]

Ah Monday. That most horrible of days that makes even the most dedicated of workers shy away from the task. You roll out of bed, check the alarm clock, mutter a curse as you realise you're just that bit too late for work and rummage among the heap of clothes lying on the floor to find something presentable. You're already wearing a loose fitting button up top with rolled sleeves, and on top of that you throw a baggy blazer and harem pants. As you contemplate your shoe drawer you can already feel your feet crying out in pain at the thought of heels after the weekend you had. You grab your trusty pair of docs and thick grey socks, pull 'em on, and you're out the door. Running for the bus, and by bus, of course you mean taxi. 


Tuesday
[nina ricci cardigan, doc martens, vanessa bruno top, topshop skirt, burberry scarf, forever 21 bangles, hermes bag]

Ugh. meetings with the advertisers. You don't know why you have to go, but then you think of your slightly famous boyfriend and the penny drops. Your editor is so pragmatic sometimes, but you wish that you were valued for yourself and not your connections. But then, that's life isn't it? But you get ahead of yourself. The Nina Ricci cardigan gives you serious high fashion cred, whilst the topshop leather look skirt is both sexy and maintains the nonchalant air you were going for. Of course, a being nonchalant whilst holding a birkin bag can be difficult. But then you realise the perfect thing to ensure the outfit remains insouciant and not incompetent... instead of reaching for the skyscraper heels you usually do, you grab your Docs instead. Comfort and chic. And the look on your editor's face when you saunter in, or saunter as best as one can in combat boots, is priceless. 


Wednesday
[roksanda ilincic coat, doc martens, luella dress, Bex Rox necklace, YSL clutch bag]

Wednesday night is always reserved for your girls, most of them friends you've had since school, who know every blemish on your face and flaw in your personality but love you nonetheless. You would be lost without them. You all go to this particular bar where the cocktails flow freely, the beats seem to course through your body, and the cigarette in your hand is always lit. The problem with the spot, though, is that it is the worst kept secret. many a week you have seen girls there that most of your life you have managed to avoid, successfully. But not now. They were always so aloof in school, teasing you about your glasses and your vibe and your quirky clothes. This week you decide its payback time. Wearing this season's hottest coat, a Roksanda Ilincic tri-tone beauty, over a hot Luella LBD that accentuates every curve in your body, as well as THE yves saint laurent clutch to have a groovy necklace you picked up at Browns, you know that this will make a favourable impression. And as the eyes roll over you, you can feel jealousy, envy and a little shock rolled together. Who's the loser now? Then they hit the Docs and they are confused. 
Always keep 'em guessing. 


Thursday
[alexander wang jacket, doc martens, vanessa bruno top, philip lim skirt, alexander wang clutch, dinosaur designs bangles]

Another day, another invite lining up on your shelf. You're not even that much of a party girl, but being a little champagne bubble about town means that you have so many different friends, some of the only ways to keep up with them is to see them at their various parties. This time it's one with the music crowd, the kids you met when you were madly in love with that rock star for a bit, a phase that you wholeheartedly recommend everyone to go through. Hip would be an understatement when describing this crowd. You know the alexander wang jacket with scarf collar will go down well, as well as your philip lim skirt and the dinosaur designs paint splattered bracelets. And the docs? Well, let's just say that if it wasn't for these people you'd never have any at all. 


Friday
[YSL Muse 2 bag, doc martens, vanessa bruno dress, opening ceremony jacket, dinosaur designs bangles]

You hate driving in heels. It feels weird and you just can't do it. Which is why when you and the Boy decide to escape to a cottage near Bath for the weekend (and then some) you instantly reach for the docs. A loose fitting, slouchy dress in glorious moss green dress in cotton with silk detail, a light, breezy blazer, and the YSL bag in the back seat. The wind was whipping around you as you drove down, you almost wished that you had a scarf with which to let blow in the wind in the manner of fabulous 50s film stars. 







2 days till i go!!!!!!!!



You have read this article dreams / fashion / future / inspiration / me / shopping / style with the title January 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2009/01/the-doctor-came-with-his-bag-and-his-hat.html. Thanks!

the winner takes it all...

lazy sunday afternoons can be taken up by a whole manner of things, be them crossword-doing, baking, painting toe-nails, arranging flowers and those sorts of activities; not tiresome but by no means stressful either. The day of rest should be occupied by things that are, either by nature or by consequential actions, restful. That is why on sunday afternoons i like to flip through magazines and involve myself in some healthy daydreaming. This sunday, with golden globe in my not too distant memory and oscar looming like a big iceberg ahead, i would like to share some of my favourite dresses. 

Some i like because of the fashion moment it represented, some i like as a combination of the person and the dress together, some i like because they capture a moment in time that i find endearing and adorable, and some i like because they are just so damn fabulous. 


Marion Cotillard, Oscars 2008, Jean Paul Gaultier

[tfs]

I love this dress an incredible, awful lot. When she stepped foot onto that red carpet i squealed with glee, mostly because all of the other actresses had been in nude, strapless, grecian style dresses which are lovely when you can get it, and of course one of those will appear later on in the list, but at the end of the day you want to wow, not bore. Marion, exploding into the lounge rooms of people across the world, a virtual unknown, made a statement with this dramatic and daring haute couture dress with fish scale pattern. It was tight, glitzy and figure-showing, everything that oscars loves, as well as being chic, fashion-y and all around fabulous, which the public in general loves. ALthough she got mixed reviews, i love love loved it, and can't wait to see more of her, and her fashion choices, at the oscars to come.


Cameron Diaz, Oscars 2008, stella mccartney (?) 

[cameron diaz fan]

I am a sucker for quirky, different tailoring and draping. So it is no wonder that this simple strapless fish tail number in palest pink is one of my favourites when you consider the tucks and folds along the bodice. Cameron diaz consistently, and i mean consistently, comes up with the goods at awards shows. i don't even like her personal style, or even her personality, but at awards shows she is one of the only young actresses who manages to ensure that she stays true to herself, that is, natural beauty and no-fuss glamour, which seems like an oxymoron i know. I loved that year she came in the kimono dress with big turquoise jewellery, and also the year that everyone hated her globes dress that was frilly, frou frou and white tulle by chanel. I love it all. She is a tour de force, rivalled only by our next favourite:


Cate Blanchett, Golden Globes 2004, (?)

[tfs]

I love Cate Blanchett, i think she is a goddess sent down from heaven to mingle with the commoners. Only Goddesses have skin that perfect, minds that intelligent, faces that beautiful, and the ability to act so amazingly well. She can't be human. This is one of my favourite award show dresses of hers, and she's even pregnant here, and looking better than i ever could. I don't even like satin! i think it's unforgiving and harsh against anyone that isnt a size 0, and look how she makes it look: Radiant (she is actually glowing!). Confident. Born to take a chance (thankyou Anastasia). The cap sleeves are so cute, but made elegant by the draping and the tucks along the neckline, and then its just a free fall down to that lovely train. So Stunning. it takes my breath away, seriously. 

speaking of people who consistently get it right...


Charlize Theron, Oscars 2005, ??

[charlize theron fan]

I could have chosen anything she has ever worn to an awards show, including that infamous tangerine dress in 2o00 that showcased her.... wits... She is incredible when it comes to awards show dressing, and geting that exact balance of elegance and sophistication as well as cool and personal style. The year she won the best actress oscar (2004) she paraded around a series of incredible dresses on the circuit, culminating in that skin tight, glittery, slinky armani prive (who else?) number in which she took home the statue. but no, that is not the dress i chose. Instead there is this fabulous, drool-worthy, heart attack inducing strapless number in the palest of blues in the lightest of silk chiffon and tulles (i'm a sucker for some tulle, can you tell?) with a huge train (also a sucker for the train, is it obvious?), and tiers. She was the beautiful barbie doll that everyone wanted to be, stunning make up, fabulous jewellery, jaw-droppingly amazing dress. 



Amy Adams, Oscars 2008, Proenza Schouler

[amy adams fan]

Amy Adams was born to wear green. No-one else can touch that colour. It is hers. Forever. the proenza boys are some of my favourites for the really tailored, fitted look in womens clothing, especially their dresses, and this is no exception. I like the belt at the waist, the darts and exposed seams that run all along the bodice and skirt until the attached fishtail hem. I also love the proenza signature neckline, that sees a raised and exaggerated 'cup' over each boob and an adjoining neckline/bar in between. Adams looked every inch the modern day old hollywood starlet that she is. 


Sofia Coppola, Oscars 2004, ??

[tfs]

I love Sofia Coppola. I love the fact that she is shacked up with her boyfriend and child in paris living my dream of romance and movies and fabulousness in the best city in the world. I love that she's so witty and clever and makes intelligent art-house movies for young people. I love her take on the decadence of versailles, and seem to be one of the only people who has read antonia fraser's biography and seen the film and loved the both of them. I love this dress. Love it. LOVE IT. the ties at the shoulders are charming. The slinkiness of it all is sexy. The panelling around the hips is interesting. The waist cincher gives it shape. The colour is just divine against her skin tone.... that wine silk is just so incredibly beautiful it makes me want to cry. Really. 


Drew Barrymore, Golden Globes 2007, ??

[drew barrymore online]

the ubiquitous, required strapless grecian dress in a pale colour. But this dress represents more than that to me because it was drew's moment of triumph after all the hate she copped the year before for that green dress that did not flatter her at all. She put her hair up in a messy, ruffled bun with plaits (very cute, couldn't find a picture of the back), applied some shimmery glowing make up, took hugh grant as her date, and generally wowed the fashion press. She looked so radiant and happy, and i suppose for me this dress is not so much chosen because it is so fabulous, or ground-breaking, or elegant, or sophisticated, i suppose in one way or another it is all of those things, but rather because of the moment it signified for drew, who although is a bit silly i have a soft spot for. I have a lot of time for drew. :)


Michelle Williams, Oscars 2006, Vera Wang

[i am fashion blog]

Ladies and Gentleman: this is how to wear yellow. I couldn't find a better pic than this, but by god did she look good. Her hair was gorgeously messy, her red limps vampy and old-hollywood, and her dress was knock out. There are not many actresses who will risk wearing yellow on the red carpet, it has the rather annoying habit of washing one out, cate blanchett wore it in 2005 when she won best supporting actress, and looked fab indeed, but many ahve tried (and failed) to wear it well. Michelle didn't go for the dicky lemony yellows that some choose in the hope it will seem like white, but dived straight in with this bright, bold and statement-making yellow that said, here i am, look at me. She was relatively unknown, a beauty, sure, but paling in comparison to the success of the fellow dawsons creek alumnae (in particular katie holmes, who had just shacked up with crazy tom if memory serves me correctly). This dress was one of the those wake up calls, like a reminder to the world of how beautiful and stunning, inside and out, she really is. Look at me. I'm a star. (RIP heath)


Keira Knightley, Oscars 2006, Vera Wang

[keira knightley org]

This is the type of dress that you remember. I'm all for understated elegance and classic sophistication, yes that works if you're presenting, or trying to fly under the radar and just make a best dressed list. BUt if you are up for nomination, and you even have the slightest chance of winning, you hedge your bets and you wear a dress that, in the event of you getting up onto that podium, people will remember. That's why i want Kate Winslet to wear something bright and bold this coming february. That's why i was disappointed nicole kidman wore boring black in boring cut when she won. That's why i was thrilled to pieces when reese witherspoon wore that vintage christian door with hand-appliqued sequins. And that's why Keira Knightley did the right thing in this Vera Wang. It was THE dress, besides Michelle's, of the show, the one that everyone had on their lips long past the opening of the envelopes. Her fierce facial expression (har har), her crazily extravagant but really cool jewellery, and that firecracker of a dress in the most bizarre of fabrics but in such an interesting cut and draping that it doesn't matter, meant that the gorgeous brit, but really only known for pirates of the caribbean, become the newest it-starlet, which surely threw many a delicious role her way. It's all about the dress.


Penelope Cruz, Oscars 2008, Valentino

[penelope fan]

Penelope Cruz is gorgeous, like stunningly gorgeous, and once i got over the fact she was tom cruise's ex (eurghhh) i realised she was actually a great actress with a real eye for awards fashion. In 2007 when she was nominated for volver she did the rounds in the classic staples of award show dresses: lots of tulle, lots of layers, lots of frou, lots of big big bling. Her oscars dress was most notable, and in the style of keira knightley, dressing to remember, a tight, fitted bodice erupting in ruffles down the skirt into a huge train. Unforgettable. I prefer, however, this more subdued number from last year. Yes, it may be in black, but there is something so interesting and intriguing about this dress that combines chiffon, feathers, draping and strapless without being too busy. And i love the way that it is draped all around her stomach area, drawing attention to somewhere one would not usually try to draw attention to, and she still looks classy and chic. Perhaps it helps that she's a goddess. 


Julianne Moore, Oscars 2003, Yves Saint Laurent.

[julianne moore online]

When i said that Amy Adams was born to wear green, i probably should have mentioned that she has a green twin sister in Julianne Moore. Both of them have that same colouring; the pale porcelain skin, the glorious ginger locks (i've always wanted red hair!), the piercing green eyes. When she wore this dress she upstaged everyone on the red carpet, including fellow nominee nicole kidman, and everyone was wondering why julianne wasn't nominated in best actress category instead.... So slinky, so sexy, so amazingly incredible... And the ruffles down the front! they seemed to just pool down in a puddle of green jersey around her well-heeled feet. 


Diane Kruger, Oscars 2007, Elie Saab
 
[tfs]

One way to grab the attention of the cinematic industry is to be that year's unknown but stunning blonde. You know, there's one of them every year, and sometimes she has brown hair, but most of the time she is a blonde beautiful but unknown actress attached to a man/film that is doing well. in 2003 it was scarlett johanson. in 2000 it was charlize theron. in 2004 it was naomi watts. In 2007 it was Diane Kruger, hitherto seen by american audiences in well, troy. and then, well, national treasure. you get the point though. Not the world's greatest actress, but almost offensively beautiful, and very stylish, so really it doesn't matter all that much. so in elie saab, delicate, pretty and ethereal diana shines. 


Maggie Gyllenhaal, Oscars 20o6, Bottega Veneta

[maggie fan]

As you may have noticed, 2006 was a good year for oscars fashion in my opinion. Maggie, however, represents a very different kind of dress to almost everything that i've shown here. Maggie is, as i have noted before, that gem of an actress whose personal style is as quirky but un-pretentious and un-forced as her own personality. In fact, it seems more apt to say that her personality just shines out through her clothes. She never wears anything that jars with her person, and she never seems fake in her dress choices. Sometimes you find actresses that clearly feel at odds with the dress: too formal, too old, too young (ugh), too short, too fashion-y... Maggie always gets it right. This dress, which was hated by most that year, was a real love of mine, in fact, i wanted to get it copied for the dress i wore to my aunt's wedding later that year, of course, my mother intervened, what with it being totally backless (hahahaha). The thing i love about this dress is first of all, it seems to be made from some kind of stiff material, perhaps wool jersey or calico blend, which is such a departure from all the satin and silk and softness that pervades the red carpet these days. Second of all: the pockets. How cute, and how lovely. And third of all i love the colour. Brown. who would have known? We all know Maggie Gyllenhaal is fashionable, but this dress shows that she is also undeniably beautiful in the same quirky way that she dresses.




*sigh*. all these beautiful dresses! all these beautiful people! 
how terribly mitford. 
i want to go to the oscars!
can i be attached to a lovely and dashing actor, brilliant too of course, pretty please, poste-haste.
ah *sigh sigh sigh*.  
sunday afternoons should always be spent dreaming and wishing.


to rose-lipped maidens and light foot lads....


X


You have read this article celebrity / dreams / fashion / golden globes / oscars / style with the title January 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2009/01/the-winner-takes-it-all.html. Thanks!

strike a pose, strike a pose... vogue vogue vogue.

There is something so incredibly rejuvenating about the month of February. It’s not quite the first month of the year, and so it is often the month that resolutions are modified into a slightly more achievable form, it’s the month where valentine’s day can bring the whispers of new love, or at least the realisation that you don’t need a man to complete you. And it’s the month of the autumn(fall)/winter fashion weeks all around the (northern) globe. Wasn’t there a line in the sex and the city movie, there is an event in February where women flock together to shed away the baggage of the past and look forward to the future: and that is new york fashion week. 

Of course, the february issues of magazines are created long before february, but the whole vibe and feel of february as a whole must be conveyed in their pages. People look to the february issues to accompany their fashion week experiences, to signify the change in seasons and aid them in both getting excited for, and preparing for, the future. 

Which takes me to two february issues of the same publication: Vogue. One is Vogue US, cover girl Blake Lively of Gossip Girl fame, the other is Vogue Paris, covergirl Lara Stone of Vogue Paris fame. 

Let's start with Vogue US, shall we. We might as well start at the beginning, it is after all a very good place to start. I don't really want to talk about Blake Lively as their choice of a cover girl, i don't think she warrants it particularly, but i think she does look stunning, much better than i could ever anticipate, and in Anna's editor's letter she states that Gossip Girl is important for society not because of any real intellectual merit but because it provides escapism, which in these hard economic times is more important than ever. And, if you read my gossip girl post last year, you would know that i agree. 

More importantly, i want to focus on the content, both written and editorial. In the editor's letter Anna Wintour states that 'without renewal - culture dies', and it is clear that her and the Vogue US team are undergoing major renewal changes. Vogue has been a bit of a toothless tiger for such a long time, parading endless celebrities of the same ilk (jennifer aniston, gwyneth paltrow, reese witherspoon etc) without acknowledging the new guard. This year has seen two covers by two young actresses, both their first, Anne Hathaway and Blake Lively, so that in itself is a change for Vogue US. 

Even more applaudable, and surprising, is the editorial 'It's a Madcap World' shot by Steven Klein and styled by Grace Coddington featuring a bevvy of beautiful leggy models, the vast bulk of whom had yet to break into vogue US (Karlie Kloss, Anna Maria Jagodzinska, Jourdann Dunn, Vitktoriya Sasonkina, Liya Kebede, Natasha Poly)





[tfs via sansartifice.wordpress.com]


It's this type of editorial that is so completely 'Vogue', and in particular Vogue US. It's crazy styling, interesting locations, quirky props and an irreverence, a sort of tongue-in-chic execution that make vogue US, when it is at its best, the leader of the fashion pack. So 2008 may have produced a slew of much criticized covers and content, but that's all in the past. Editorial like this one with their lashings of bright colour, clash-tastic styling, and overall feel of nonchalant and quirky glamour, are the reasons why we love fashion. We all have different taste, but this is the kind of editorial that can unite those with different tastes in a love of high fashion, and its variant mixes. 


And then compare this to the whole of the Vogue Paris February issue, which centres around model Lara Stone. The issue features editorials of Lara shot by various photographers such as Lindhberg, Inez and Vidoonh, Slimane, Richardson, etc. artists submitting works they made inspired by lara, interviews and all that jazz. Also, let me make the point that this is the first issue of 2009 for vogue paris, considering that they do not make a january issue, they make a dec/january issue. So the february issue is intended to be even more rejuvenatory, more renewing, more refreshing. 







Which is why i am stymied, absolutely stymied, by this issue. I love Lara, don't get me wrong, she's actually one of my most favourite models of all time. And there is no mistaking the fact that she looks great here. But this issue is mediocre. It is the same Lara we have seen all our lives, bare breasts, often masculine tailoring or sexy mini dresses in sparkly spangly fabrics, don't mess with me attitude, long, tousled bed hair... She looks gorgeous, but we've seen it all before. It quite possibly could have been editorials pulled from vogue paris from any issue last year, it doesn't look at all like the renewed, rejuvenated, refreshing take on fashion that we come to expect from february.

The worst thing is is that there was rumoured to be a brigitte bardot theme to the shoot, which would have been so interesting and new. Lara has been in some groundbreaking and intriguing shoots, all of which really challenged the perceived notions of both feminine dressing and feminine beauty. But these editorials seem stale, both in terms of her facial expressions and poses, but also with the photographer. I mean, it's not like Hedi Slimane differs very far from his usual formula. He knows what works for his aesthetic, and he continues in it. But at the end of the day, well, at the end of January really, do we want the same re-hashed formulas or do we want editorials that delight and challenge our perceptions? 

Because that is what 'madcap world' does. It really challenges us what an outfit should look like. How many of us dress as crazily as those models in our day to day life? Paris Vogue is a force to be reckoned with, but it must be said that it promotes a very clear aesthetic issue after issue. The formula is clear: black, lots of it, classic lines, super high shoes and killer accesories. Sexy, border line dominatrix items, clothes for a lover... We've seen these clothes, these outfits, before. There's only so much balmain one can take before you start yelling for every sequin in the world to be burned.

As Wintour herself said in the editor's letter, fashion is all about pushing boundaries. And with the mad mix of styling in 'madcap world' they aim to push the boundaries of what a dress, or a pair of pants, or a handbag, or a hat, looks like. And all of this in a wearable way. Coddington was not aiming to style an editorial that is so mad it can only exist within the pages of a magazine, one recalls the nick knight shot editorial for british vogue DEC 08, rather she is trying to create a touchstone for women the world over who need inspiration and a refreshing take on their wardrobes.

Style need not always be safe, matching and 'together', which is a lesson that is quite widely known in the blogger-sphere, but cemented in the hallowed pages of vogue US it becomes a lesson available to all, the housewife, the high flying lawyer, the teacher, the 18 year old fashion student... 

And that is certainly a refreshing change from Vogue's usual fashion messages that exhort women to all dress like 40 something society wives in the hamptons. First choosing Alexa Chung in their best-dressed issue and now this. It looks like Vogue is turning a corner!
X



You have read this article editorial / fashion / inspiration / style with the title January 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2009/01/strike-pose-strike-pose-vogue-vogue.html. Thanks!

you look lovely today... just today?

hmm... i debated about doing this post considering i just did one for the golden globes, but i love it too much. of course, looks have been few and thin on the ground because the globes captured most of the star power this week. But i'm not complaining! I get fabulous evening dresses and back-breaking shoes... i'm a very happy little blogger.

Lily Allen

[splash news]

When Lily Allen decides to ditch the ugg boots and track pants she turns up the glamour to an almost crazy volume. We've seen her in fringed backless evening gowns, mini dresses with sheer panels in compromising areas, super super high heels, crazy curls and mini skirts. Now we see a french-inspired outfit, a striped french navy dress, white hooded coat that i think is vanessa bruno and the chanel russian doll bag that is just kitsch enough to be cute, and not trite. I love this outfit, i think she looks like a doll. Albeit a glamorous, sex-kitten doll. :)


Rose Byrne

[celebutopia]

The thing i love about this outfit is that it is so simple. Sometimes outfits can be bogged down in accessories, and colour and layers... This outfit is just classic with just that little extra dose of cool. The folded clutch bag is lovely, and i want one right now, the black jeans and pumps make the outfit have that sophisticated edge, and then the military style jacket with exposed pockets and over-sized lapels is practical, cold as i imagine it is in new york at the moment, as well as being very very very covetable. I want it all! 



Taylor Momsen

[tfs]

I think we can all remember the days when Little J was not the sharpest tool in the fashion box. The poor girl was torn between being 15 and therefore the youngest in a cast of 20-something year olds whose storylines are sophisticated and mature and being 15 and therefore, well 15. She tried to go a little edgy, got her hair cut in a shaggy mullet do with a front fringe and started wearing too much eyeliner and too little skirt fabric. This dress, however, is stunning. I love the fringing, i love the black, and i love that it is floor length but doesn't seem too sophisticated or old for her. And furthermore, look at her hair! it used to look like it was cut by a lawnmower, now it looks youthful and hip. 



Chloe Sevigny

[tfs]

There is something so intriguing about raw silk. I mean, everyone assumes that silk will be soft and, well, silky, so lovely to touch and like liquid mercury crystalised in fabric form. Raw silk is instead a little rough, a little more 'raw', a little less polite and perfect as its counterpart. And that's why i like raw silk, it is just that little bit more interesting. So how could i not love this outfit Chloe is wearing, a classic but cool bubble hem dress, flouncy shoes, and sun-kissed complexion and make up. 




TGIF!
X
You have read this article celebrity / fashion / inspiration / lily allen / style with the title January 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2009/01/you-look-lovely-today-just-today.html. Thanks!

i had a farm in africa...

'If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a colour that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?'

Karen Blixen, Out of Africa



[no credit... this is just saved to my computer from somewhere.]


There is a moment in Out of Africa where Denys Finch-Hatten (Robert Redford) washes the hair of Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep). While on Safari attempting to see, perhaps for the last time, wild and un-tamed Africa, Karen manages to mess her hair up to the point that she cannot brush it. ‘I can fix that,’ Denys says, and minutes later he is reciting ‘rhyme of the ancient mariner’ to her, and pouring water over her soapy hair while she opens her mouth slightly in serenity. 

‘He prayeth well, who loveth well, both man and bird and beast.’ Denys finishes. 

The melding of their unbridled, heart-burning passion for each other as well as the subtle recognition of the beauty of africa at that time, the harmony and serenity between man and bird and beast, is the ultimate message in Out of Africa. At once one of the most romantic, emotionally charged and moving love stories as well as an elegaic, slightly melancholy ode to an Africa that is now lost and obscured behind violence and tourism and modernization. 

Out of Africa will change your life. I am not even kidding, and i most certainly am not exaggerating. This is the kind of movie that comes once in a generation, superbly well-made, excellently acted, and all against a backdrop so jaw-droppingly stunning that it alone is enough to bring you to tears, if the storyline itself can't do that. It is based on the memoirs of Karen Blixen of her time owning and running a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills, her marriage to the philandering Baron, her romance and affair with the wanderer Denys, a man of erudition and grace, and also her growing love and affection for her home country. 

Anyone who has read Blixen's original book, or indeed, anyone who has ever read a memoir, will understand the difficulty in translating something that is essentially non-linear to film. For a memoir is, by very definition, a collection of memories glued together with their only common thread being, ultimately, that they belong to author. Blixen's writing is stunning, lyrical and poetic in a way that you don't expect of someone for whom english was not their first language. But it is also very inconsistent, not in an annoying way that throws you off, but it does make for a dilemma. Where does one start? chronologically? by each moment? by character, or people? By the African landmarks that she often frames events around?

The film, screenplay by Kurt Luedtke, captures so perfectly and completely the spirit of the book. Yes, there may be some plot discrepancies, and yes the film is more of a 'love story'... i find these days films often are, but the spirit of blixen's memoir, that of the magical and arresting beauty of africa, that of the follies of life, and indeed, love, are caught and displayed in the film in crystal perfection. The film conjures up for your eyes a feast, a lovingly filmed postcard to an Africa, particularly Kenya, that by all accounts was supremely paradisiacal. 

While Karen and Denys may ostensibly be the romantic focus, Pollack is one for making films that are elegant and sophisticated, languorous like a summer day, and interspersed between Karen's recollections and narrative voice are some of the most stunning arial shots of Africa i've ever seen.  The savannah stretching out as far as the eye can see, long and lean and white, so white, and mountains rising up to meet the sky, graceful animals leaping in bounds, so high from the ground it seems impossible... the simple loveliness in rushes and muddy waterholes and sand and seas and sight, a loveliness that has none of the wet richness of european landscape, but is no less incredible. the kind of images that belong in paintings, in impressionist brush strokes, quick and messy, but so incredibly arrestingly beautiful.

And aside from Africa, the film creates two leads whose chemistry is unbelievable. We all know that Streep is an amazing actress, and in 1985, the time of the film, she was consistently sending forth performances worthy of oscar. Karen is a fiercely spirited and intelligent woman, who at first is at odds with the segregated, patriarchal and environmentally hostile Kenyan landscape. But as her husband continually leaves her alone on the farm she grows subsistent, and develops an affection for Africa that is persistent and everlasting. 'I tried to remember the colours of Africa,' Karen muses, at one moment of the film when she returns to her homeland of Denmark. And Streep is so restrained with those words, and yet they are so emotionally charged, you too strain your mind to conjure up some of the african colours in your head. the ochre of the dirt, the jewel blue of the blinding sky, that yellowy green of the plant-life.

Denys, on the other hand, is a character for the ages. Bear in mind that everyone in the film is based on real people, and so although Denys' strong sense of independence, his unwillingness to be tied down, his magical charm and natural grace, they all may seem trite. But not just by his lover Karen's pen, but by many other, Denys seemed a remarkable man. There is a bit in the memoirs where Blixen writes that the land seemed to sing when he was around, that when she heard his car on the drive to her farm she could hear the land cry out in joy. I'm not even a huge Robert Redford fan, give me Jeremy Irons any day, but by god i would drop anyone for his Denys Finch-Hatten. Not every actor could do justice to this character, who, as wikipedia so philosophically puts it 'belongs everwhere and nowhere', and certainly many of his outbursts towards the end of the film where he says to Karen that she doesn't 'need' him, she only 'wants' him, that he needs his space, he can't be tamed... that kind of typical commitment-phobe drivel from men can come across arrogant. But you believe him when he says it, you see that he's not being spoilt and immature but rather that it is his way of trying to stay individual and liberated in the way he sees the true spirit of Africa. He identifies with the land like no-one else, and as such wants himself to be just like it: wild, un-tamed, free...

But nothing can stay perfect forever. Just like how Karen and Denys' romance becomes muddied when she berates him for not wanting to 'have' her in the way she wants, the way where you give your heart to the other person. 'I've learnt that there are some things worth having, but they come at a price,' Karen says to him, 'And i want to be one of them.' Their difference in temperaments, the passionate and romantic Karen who wants to give herself, and all of herself, to her lover, and Denys, forever his own person, unwilling to be 'owned' or captured by anything. 

And just like that the serenity of Africa withers away too. Throughout the film Denys and Karen see the degradation of Kenyan society, firstly through the great war in which Africa is divided up at the petty whims of European colonists and the native africans further disengaged from land that is rightfully theirs. Later, Denys is forced into safari work, showing off africa as it slowly becomes homogenised and captured to prying tourists. The dreamy rhythm of life in Kenya, focussed around the rain season and the calm that it brings, is lost as more and more settlers flock to the land seeking riches and fortunes. There is a sense of wistfulness in the way the camera pans so slowly over man and bird and beast, how beautiful it once was, we think, how sad that this peacefulness is now gone.

I know it sounds like i've ruined the whole film for you, but i really haven't. There is so much more than i can even put down on paper, the film is such a rich tale of love and change and discovery. And there are too many moments to describe my favourite. There's one bit where the newly arrived Karen sees that she doesn't quite fit in, in a society where the whites are foreigners she is a foreign white. A new acquaintance is enchanted by her, and remarks with nostalgia that her perfume is the same as a girl he used to take to dances in silk dresses back at oxford. Karen offers forth her wrist, and the man tentatively, curiously, sniffs. 'No... it's very nice. but not the same.' he concludes. 

Another of my favourites comes about half way through the film, when Denys takes her up into his little plane. As they zoom across the sky, the majesty of the serengheti spread beneath them in all its regal glory, Karen reaches a hand behind her and Denys grasps it, not very safe, i mean, who was steering the plane? but very romantic. And you realise the significance of the opening lines of the film: 

'He even took the Gramophone on safari.  Three rifles, supplies for a month and Mozart.
He began our friendship with a gift. And later, not long before Tsavo, he gave me another.
An incredible gift. A glimpse of the world through God's eye. And I thought...
"Yes, I see. This is the way it was intended."

You will cry, and cry, and cry. I know i did!
And then you will smile at the memory of what i guarantee will be one of the most moving 2 hours you ever spend watching a film. There are only a handful of films that i feel this strongly about, atonement, titanic, brokeback mountain.... and out of africa. 

X

You have read this article africa / dreams / films / travel with the title January 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-had-farm-in-africa.html. Thanks!
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...